Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 474 Aggregation
"Haha, good heavens, given the situation today, just let them order. Can't they afford king crab?"

Chu Chen's voice was tinged with laughter.

"Isn't this because we're worried about exceeding the team-building budget?"

At Xingchen, team building activities are divided into three levels.

Team building activities, such large-scale team building events, may only happen once a year, or even never, since they involve multiple countries and departments.

Then there are regional team building activities, such as team building activities in large regions like Japan, the United States, and China.

When the company was small last year, Chu Chen often took people out for team building activities. However, as Xingchen has expanded rapidly, the number of such regional team building activities has decreased.

Most of the time, it's the team building activities of each studio's departments.

Of course, if you really want to count it, Chu Chen randomly invites his employees to lunch every week, which can also be considered a special team building activity.

Overall, however, Xingchen's team building activities are mainly centered around the studio, and the distribution of these team building funds is quite interesting, as it is linked to KPIs.

Once the deal is reached, a sum of money will be sent out.

Funds shall be used for their designated purpose.

It doesn't have to be a meal; it can also be a trip.

Normally, within the entire StarCraft organization, the various game studios hold team-building activities quite frequently, often organizing trips for families during holidays.
In contrast, there's Ma Yuanyao's variety show department.

Although the team building expenses were considerable, since no significant results were achieved, they weren't as extravagant in spending money.

This success gave them a sense of pride and led to some "revenge spending."

Chu Chen was very clear about this mentality of wanting recognition after achieving results, so he didn't say anything else and just told them to order whatever they wanted, and that he would treat them to anything over the limit.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a thunderous cheer erupted from the other end of the phone.

In fact, compared to those king crabs, Chu Chen, who said those words, was the one who made them cheer.

"Long live President Chu!"

Ma Yuanyao led the shouting, which triggered another round of howling wolves.

"Okay, stop flattering me."

"Get some rest and recharge. The framework for this program seems promising. Let's discuss it in more detail later."

"understand!"

Even after hanging up the phone, the smile on Chu Chen's lips hadn't faded.

Perhaps it's because he became a boss, but besides making games, Chu Chen's other great hobby is watching the people he's trained shine on the right stage.

Although Ma Yuanyao was not a direct subordinate.

However, the decision to poach her from South Korea was made by Chu Chen, and the two had an in-depth discussion when they did so. This success has a far greater impact on Xingchen Huaxia's publicity than just a single program.

As time goes on, the entire system becomes stronger.

While Chu Chen was still thinking about Ma Yuanyao, his phone vibrated again.

This time, the attack came from Japan.

The caller ID reads "Li Suhao".

"Will you call me?"

Chu Chen and Li Suhao communicated quite frequently; after all, senior management in a company often needs constant communication to reach a consensus on the overall direction. However, calls came less often after get off work or during their rest time.

So when Chu Chen saw Li Suhao's call, he raised an eyebrow. The last time this guy called on his day off, it wasn't good news.
However, this time, Chu Chen guessed wrong.

Li Suhao did indeed come to deliver good news.

"Boss, TV Tokyo just called urgently, not by email, but personally from their production manager! They want to collaborate with us on a deep project..."

"They want to do another game-related program with us, and also get TV shopping licenses for our Starry Night merchandise..."

Upon hearing Li Suhao's report, Chu Chen's first reaction was not to discuss the cooperation, but to ask a question in return.

"Have the ratings for the 48-hour special come out yet?"

"Wow!! Boss, how did you know?! That's amazing!!"

Perhaps due to his long stay in Japan, Li Suhao's speech also carries a bit of a Japanese flavor, and he tends to be easily startled when he gets emotional.
However, this matter is indeed something that should startle Li Suhao.

"The average viewership rating was 4%, and it even peaked at 5.5%!"

Judging solely from viewership ratings, the "Starry Sky 48-Hour Production Contest Special" broadcast on TV Tokyo this time was not particularly impressive.

At least, it's much worse than "Fate/Grand Order: Killing" which had a 12% viewership rating.

However, this does not mean that the broadcast was a failure, because Starry Night did not delay the broadcast this time, which means that Japanese players can also watch the show online.

The fact that it still achieved a 4% viewership rating under such circumstances indicates that many people who don't follow StarCraft games are also watching the variety show.

This is why TV Tokyo wants to pursue the collaboration.

The reason for creating another variety show is that TV Tokyo has benefited from the high viewership, while obtaining the TV shopping license for Starry Night merchandise is to boost revenue.

Just a quick mention of this.

TV shopping on TV Tokyo was quite successful in Japan, and it can be considered one of the first "live-streaming sales hosts." Many of the sales techniques that later became popular on TikTok were learned from Japanese TV shopping channels.
Even 25 years later, the sales of TV Tokyo's shopping programs remained an important source of revenue for TEPCO.

This collaboration, in a sense, is...

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) also saw the potential for StarCraft game merchandise to sell on a larger scale.

"Right now, Yahoo News, 2ch forums, and Twitter are buzzing with discussion! A lot of people are talking about that game called 'The Window,' which was made by that student team and is about social anxiety."

"Now, there are campaigns on Japanese TikTok and Twitter where people open their windows to show their support."

Besides the program's ratings, what prompted TEPCO to deepen its cooperation with Starlight Entertainment was the new trend that Starlight Entertainment's event sparked in Japan.

#OpeningWindowSupport#
This thing is a typical "internet hot topic"—posting a video of someone opening a window or taking a picture of what's outside the window—it doesn't actually solve any social problems.

It's simply because anyone can do it, and it seems like they actually did something.

It became an instant hit.

Many media outlets, in their reports, also mentioned the source of this work. Furthermore, several students from Dongda University, the creators of "The Window," boasted about Chu Chen during interviews.
They said something about Chu Chen helping them refine their ideas...
In fact, Chu Chen did take some time to look at the demos made by each group, but it was just a quick look around, and he said some encouraging words.

But according to some of the students, he was practically a life mentor.

In short, because the show had good ratings and generated buzz, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) wanted to deepen their cooperation. However, this involved several matters that required communication with the TEPCO headquarters, such as variety show production and merchandise sales.

Before working out the plan, Li Suhao decided to call Chu Chen first.

First, to give a brief report on the situation; second, to confirm Chu Chen's opinion on the matter.

(End of this chapter)